KhepiAri

Book Review: The Strawberry Thief by Joanne Harris Quote: Food is the thing that unites us all, that brings us back together. Food is the thing we can provide when there is nothing else we can do. That’s why we serve it at funerals. To remind us that Life always goes on. The fourth book in Chocolat Series was delicious like it's prequels. We are back to our little southern French village where Vianne Rocher has dropped her anchor. The story begins with a death; the florist Narcisse and deed of his estate. Rosette Vianne's winter child, who is specially-abled teen has been left with the inheritance of a strawberry farm. This deed serves as the bone of contention between Narcisse's daughter and the Rochers. The novel pans out again during the time of Easter and it unfolds stories within stories of this village. Finally, the classic Joanne Harris style murder and old memories enter this world too. We learn a bit more of Francis' history and ...

Book Review: Smokewater by Ibne Safi translated by Shamsur Rahman Faruqi Quote: Hameed was of the opinion that if everybody in the world tried to study the newspaper with such concentration, at least half of them would go mad. Therefore, instead of reading the newspaper, he spent his mornings reciting ghazals to billy goat, and lecturing it on progress and morals. Until two weeks ago I didn't know who Ibne Safi was! Now I am ashamed that I didn't. Smokewater is a story about a case that comes to Colonel Faridi and his assistant Captain Hameed. When Shakila the intelligent and beautiful granddaughter of prominent industrialist Sir Fayyaz Ahmad comes knocking to their door, the corrupt world of super-rich gets revealed. The book is a sheer page-turner with two detectives who are eccentric. Though Faridi is the brains, it's Hameed who is the man in action leading the story. Till the end, I kept wondering why was Sir Fayyaz was drugged and kidnapped, but the reason...

Webcomic Review: One Day by Pan (link at bottom) Quote: You love the book The Dreamcatcher, right? Hum...right. That novel is really awesome! I've come to your store for three days. Finally, I finished it. What? You finished all of it? One Day is a short webcomic that's sweet, fluffy and warm like pancakes which leave you happy after you devour it. In a rainy city, Bella a bookworm college student meets a backpacker in the bookshop she works at. They bond over an out of print book that Bella hides behind shelves so that she can finish it before someone buys it. They walk around the city, have coffee in Bella's favourite café and talk about their looming future as working adult. Bella doesn't want to work in a corporate job but her family is strict, and her new friend has a little secret of his own. There are two side stories, of a tomboy teen named Luciana who has a crush on her basketball teammate, and how her friends try to d...

Book Review: The Adivasi Will Not Dance by Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar Quote: A stork-chick fell on to the centered part of our backyard, writhed and wriggled in agony for few seconds, and died.  Jhi hollered in anger, 'Baahu! Where are you? See, your favourite mango tree had taken another life. It needs a sacrifice every day!' Short stories, my favourite genre of fiction, The Adivasi Will Not Dance has been on my reading list for two-years. The anthology did not disappoint at all. I have a hard time with Indian writers of short stories because of their grand attempts at open endings, a terrible mistake. Each ending here was interesting and didn't leave me irritated. Stories in the book are both known and unknown, we know of the lovers like Gita and Dillip, bickering maa and pishi in the house or the rich spoiled kid and his good-cousin of humble parents. Something sticks out for good in these stories: the politics of environmental-identity is subtle but stings. I enj...

Light Novel Review: Your Name by Makoto Shinkai Quote: ' My name is Mitshua!' The girl shouts, undoing the cord she'd used to tie back her hair and holding it out to me. Without thinking, I reach for it. It's a vivid orange, like a thin ray of evening sun in the dim train. I shove my way into the crowd and grab that colour tight. My third birthday gift was the second read yesterday. Came as a huge surprise and I was 100 pages done by end of lunch break! Rest of the evening I had to take it slow, I savoured the last 75 pages like lemons. Your Name, a story by one of my favourite Japanese animator and storyteller Makoto Shinkai. I was surprised twice yesterday to find that he had written the book and made the cinema simultaneously! There was a light novella instead of manga inside this lovely hardback. Shinkai, to be honest, is obsessed with loneliness and with adolescent love. Taki and Mitshua are geographically miles apart and equally lonely, surviving the bu...

Manga Review: Gintama by Hideaki Sorachi Quote: “If you’ve got time to fantasize about a beautiful ending, why not live beautifully until the end?”- Sakata Gintoki. I am a picky reader of super popular manga(s). But Gintama was my rebound manga, after disastrous ending of Bleach. I needed something funny. And girl did I have fun? After One Piece, it's Gintama that has made me laugh so much that I got a tummy ache and made me weep because of sad moments. The story is set in Edo invaded by Aliens, about a dead-fish-eye samurai, Sakata Gintoki, a protagonist who is not a teen but an aimless pachinko addict twenty-something man, running an odd jobs business with his two apprentices Shinpachi and Kagura, is one of the greatest manga ever created. Initially when I began reading,the one-shot narrative style kept me invested, but I never realised when Baka Sorachi shifted to short arcs to full-blown major action arcs that kept me awake for months! It has everything; hi...

Book Review: Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan Quote: He leans in and kisses. He says he's missed me too. I know this is right. I know he's not going to be amazing all the time, but there's more amazingness in him than in anyone else I've known. He makes me want to be amazing too. June was an interesting month, I read up various kinds of books from non-fiction to rom-com to writing for children despite my lack of reviews here. I wanted to do a pride month reading list, but I got occupied. So I want to end the month with an LGBTQIA book. Paul grew up gay in a town that's accepting, where the gender boundaries have blurred. The homecoming queen is star Quarterback and a drag-queen by day. Paul is popular, loved and has two best friends Joni the quintessential girl best friend prone to fall for red-flag boys, and Tony a gay boy living with his conservative family. And there is Kyle Paul's ex-boyfriend Paul meets Noah in a bookstore, a newbie sophom...